Being Part of BU is Part of His Life

John Connery (CAS'69) makes a bequest to help future students share in the BU experience

For John Connery, it all started in 1965 when he stepped off a B Line train and a College of Liberal Arts (CLA) professor offered him cup of coffee. "I wasn't allowed to have coffee at home; I was considered too young," he says. "It was the first time someone treated me like an adult. I came home and I said, 'I'm going to BU'-and I never regretted my decision."

Connery's intellectual curiosity also found a nurturing home at CLA, now the College of Arts and Sciences. He chose to pursue a degree in history, but he filled the rest of his schedule with anything that seemed interesting. When he chose to go into urban development, he began seeing the value and impact of his broad liberal arts classes in every challenge and success along his career path.

"BU put my life in context," says Connery, the first in his family to go to college. "It gave me perspective, and it gave me the self-confidence to explore things."

He remembers being in a stairwell overlooking Marsh Plaza just before graduation, feeling immense pride in the University, and making a promise that he was going to do everything he could to be a good alum. "I couldn't have had the life that I've had without the education I received at BU."

He's made good on that promise, hosting BU events in his home and donating his time and money. "The University has always given me the quiet feeling that I'm part of something that's bigger-and that something-bigger is giving back, too."

All of this led Connery to remember BU in his will to help future generations obtain an education at Boston University-a university for students who crave that first sip of responsibility and opportunity.